Rerouted trail ready for use after Mat-Su landfill expansion disrupts system connection

What you need to know:

• A new trail reconnecting two sections of the Mat-Su greenbelt system is ready for use.
• The new 0.3-mile section reroutes a part of the College Connector Trail that links Mat-Su College with Crevasse-Moraine. The previous trail was removed as part of a Mat-Su Central Landfill expansion.
• The borough’s Crevasse-Moraine trail network sits on land designated for the landfill.

PALMER — A trail reconnecting two sections of the Mat-Su Greenbelt system is finished and ready for use, borough officials said Thursday.

The new trail serves as a reroute for an approximately half-mile portion of the College Connector Trail that linked Mat-Su College with the Matanuska Susitna Borough-managed Crevasse-Moraine recreation area. The section was eliminated as part of a Mat-Su Central Landfill expansion.

The new connection sits south of the previous trail and runs about 0.3 miles, said Alan McClain, a borough trail specialist who spearheaded the project.

Crews finished work on the trail Thursday, McClain said. Borough plans originally called for work to be completed by July.

The trail was packed this week using a mini excavator, with members of the borough’s seasonal trail crew doing additional work by hand, McClain said. Brushing along the new section began last month.

The new trail replaces a section removed by an ongoing project to relocate the landfill’s main entrance and add a new tipping floor and composting area.

About 20 acres were clear-cut and excavated as part of that construction, said borough landfill manager Jeff Smith. 

Work on the new entrance is slated for completion next year, he said. Trash crews will continue to clean up debris swept from the landfill onto trails by the area’s high winds, he said, and the construction area will be fenced off later this summer.

The landfill expansion came as a surprise to some trail users who said they stumbled upon the dirt work late this spring and found no direct way to continue along the trail network. No signs were posted warning of the construction, they said.

Borough officials have since placed work notices at the Crevasse-Moraine trailhead and at several points near the new section. Those signs will be removed now that the trail is complete, McClain said.

The rerouted trail is part of the borough’s 620-acre Crevasse-Moraine area, which is designated for the landfill but currently used for recreation. That area connects with lands managed by the state and the University of Alaska to form the 2,800-acre Matanuska Greenbelt. In total, the trail system contains about 30 miles of linked corridors.

A 2020 long-term landfill plan calls for trails within Crevasse-Moraine to be rerouted or eliminated as the landfill expands to meet the growing region’s waste disposal demands. The system is expected to stay largely as is until about 2040, according to the plan.

-- Amy Bushatz can be contacted at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.